Poetry Event Featuring Patrick Donnelly February 17, 2017

A Josten Live! Fridays @ Five Event

At the Grave of Maria Callas: How Does an Aria Turn into a Poem?

Northampton poet laureate Patrick Donnelly will explore the roots of his poetry in his training as an opera singer, and especially in his 50-year admiration of the art of Maria Callas.

Donnelly will debut a new sequence of poems about Callas, and introduce historic recordings and videos of the singer that some have called the most important artist of the 20th century. As well, Donnelly will explore the attraction of gay men to opera and to Callas in particular, and seek to answer what it is about opera that is consoling and inspiring for queer people. This multi-media event will interest lovers of music, theater, poetry, design, and fashion, and especially opera, a synthesis of all the arts.

Friday February 17, 2017, 5:00 PM

Werner Josten Performing Arts Library

Mendenhall Center

Smith College

Northampton, MA 01063

413-585-2930 / 2935

PATRICK DONNELLY is the author of three books of poetry, and with his spouse Stephen D. Miller, he translates classical Japanese poetry and drama. He is director of an annual poetry conference at The Frost Place (Robert Frost’s old homestead in Franconia, NH, now a center for poetry and the arts), and an associate editor of the literary journal Poetry International. Donnelly is a lecturer at Smith College, and the 2015 – 2017 Poet Laureate of Northampton, Massachusetts.

Josten Live! is a patron-driven performance series that celebrates the creative lives of Josten Library users and the acoustic brilliance of its Mezzanine.